A question containing appear/ look and no...than, etc

[Ofriendragon]

--Tom isn't so strong as he _____, is he？
--Yes. he is _____ his brothers.
A. thinks; no stronger than
B. expects; as strong as
C. appears; stronger than
D. looks; the strongest of

I feel the answer is C, but I'm not too sure.

He appears strong./ He looks strong
They all sound natural to me.

Thanks in advance.

[Mister Micawber]

.
No. (1) Tom's concept of his own strength is greater than reality; and (2) the second speaker agrees with the first speaker. Therefore, the answer is A.
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_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Ofriendragon]

Thank you, Mister Micawber
Yes, I come to realize that no stronger than here means Tom and all his brothers are weak equally, so A fits.

Please let me ask a further question:
No stronger than seems to me a negative expression, would it be consistent with Yes?
I was taught
Yes + confirmative sentence
No + negative sentence

Maybe I have thought astray, hope you can help me out.

[Mister Micawber]

.
I agree that the 'Yes' is unexpected-- I did consider the possibility that this was written by a non-native speaker. I don't think it affects the outcome of our analysis, though.
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_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Lost_Soul]

[Ofriendragon]

Thank you both!

[Lost_Soul]

Hi,

BTW, I asked a friend of mine who happens to be a native English speaker, and he was like "they all four seem to be ok... I wouldnt wink if one said one of them". But he agreed with MM about "Yes/No" in answer "A"